They are Nigerian dwarf goats. The black/white one is a wether (castrated male) about 1 year old. He weighs about the same as Cassie, maybe a bit heavier. The brown/white one is a little girl born this past April.

Now, all you weight pullers, I've been told wethers can pull little carts around - how do you figure out how much weight will be too much?

hugapitbull wrote:I'm thinking the subject should have been "My new Kids"

Oh good idea. Can i change the title? Or one of the mods?

Having fun trying to think of names. The lady at Springdale says she never names the animals that she knows are leaving. The kids like Billy for the boy - is that too cliche? And I am leaning toward Lily or Emma for the girl.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

We named them Bailey and Jack. Bailey cried ALOT the first couple days, I was ready to send her back Today she was much better. He was so quiet I didn't think he made any noise but he is a bit louder now. (not nearly as much as she is - must be a girl thing, like ducks)

They love to escape. Had a couple near misses, so we are working on ways to prevent that (for instance they figured out they could push past you as you open the door, so we put a 30 inch barrier in front of the door - we can step over it, but they are held back momentarily) Got to work on something better for the outside pen. I heard they were escape artists, so i want to be careful they don't get out.

Put them on leashes a few times and walked them around. They were eating the poison ivy, tree killer vine, and wild grapevines. (probably my garden too, if i let them) Jack must have been walked before, he was pretty good, not too keen on going my way, but if I stopped and waited, he eventually decided he'll follow me. Bailey will go wherever Jack goes (good thing, b/c she is not too happy about the leash) Also found out she can scoot between my backyard fence pickets, luckily she was on lead at the time. They adore my youngest child, and if he walks away, they want to follow him.

As for care, they are fine on pasture and hay only this time of year, since neither is producing milk. I did get goat chow, but was cautioned not to feed them too much. I thought that sounded odd since the baby isn't full grown, and I was going to call someone who raises them to double check. In the meantime they are getting a couple cups a day between the two of them. I got them special mineral salt for goats, and read somewhere I am supposed to give them baking soda that they will eat as they need to maintain proper stomach alkalinity. (again, going to check on that with my goat expert) They don't drink very much water, I was kind of surprised about that.

They do have an odor, but it isn't offensive. I guess the bucks are pretty pungent, which is why most people don't keep them. The poop looks like /rabbit droppings, so when they wander around you don't really have to worry about picking them up.

Next project is working on some kind of movable pen. I thought I could tether them, but was told they will chew through ropes, and strangle themselves with chains (wonder about that plastic coated wire?) Plus if any neighborhood dogs wander by, they will flip out,(already had that happen with Cassie) and I am worried they will get hurt. I was thinking maybe 4 stock panels fastened at the corners, and moved wherever I wanted. The main problem is stock panels are 4' or 5' by 16 feet, so I will have to beg someone with a pickup truck to get them for me. Got a little bit of time, I want them to get used to us before I start moving them around too much.

I have a big indoor pen, and their outside pen is on the east side of the barn, and it doesn't get much snow, so they should be able to go outside all winter.

They've already trained me to walk them every day. They 'yell' at us as soon as they see us outside and don't shut up until we take them out. (I am very trainable) Yesterday they 'helped' me weed my flower bed and ate up a bunch of my trumpet vine.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07